Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, Om Malik astutely connects Google's recruiting of Internet pioneer Vint Cerf with something Malik dubs "GoogleNet." *If* Google were to offer new communications services such as unlimited free Wi-Fi connectivity, goes the scenario, they'd be able to pinpoint users' exact locations and become an even stronger force in the advertising business.

The flipside of this future vision is that Google currently cannot pinpoint users' locations as often as it would like.

Moving from a simple search engine company to a much more powerful infrastructure player who controls access points is no mean feat. It looks like Google is about halfway along that road.